"Knowledge"

Our value is not merely in our expertise, but the way we apply it. We're happy to share what we know.

Insights

Over the decades we have amassed a library of resources, both internal and external, which help our team and our partners do their jobs with skill and confidence. Peruse these pages for current trends and thought leadership, our newsletters, and tips that we have found helpful over the years. And if you have any questions for us, we’re always here for you.

We recently attended an amazing event that focused on the importance of innovation in the agriculture industry – the Western Growers Annual Meeting. Western Growers was founded in 1926 and represents local and regional family farmers, growing fresh produce across Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. In California alone, agriculture is a staggering $43-billion-dollar industry. The conference brought together experts from all areas of the industry to access the latest news and to hear from experts about the issues and ideas that are at the forefront of agriculture.

Telematics is huge these days. Its ability to improve efficiency of operations and allow fleet managers to monitor logistics, route times, vehicle speeds, and driving behavior – all remotely – are just some of the benefits. Even further, telematics has the ability to produce invaluable information for monitoring idle times and associated fuel costs—as well as for isolating questionable driving practices. Another major benefit for fleets is telematics’ ability to automatically retrieve that coveted odometer information, which is crucial for accurate cost-per-mile calculations and maintenance forecasting.

By now, it has become widely known that the transportation and mobility industry will face various changes in the future due to the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is already playing a critical role in changing the industry’s landscape. As a fleet management company, this is a very interesting space for us to keep a close eye on—from the optimization of self-driving technology, to self-organizing fleets of vehicles and smart cities, these changes will foreseeably influence the industry.

Ensuring that your fleet is in top-notch shape while on the road is important, but it is even more so with the current changes in weather. So, taking some preventative safety measures to ensure that your drivers are being safe out there is key!

I have been with Union Leasing for the past 13 years, covering Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and I can say that the fleet management industry hasn’t changed a lot, especially out here. That said, there are a couple of challenges that customers face, particularly during the vehicle-selection phase, with the overall aim to select those vehicles that will minimize costs as much as possible. In terms of the developments across the industry, the idea of self-driving vehicles is becoming increasingly talked about, especially across the West Coast and the North Coast, but it isn’t particularly being adopted just yet.

When it comes to making the decision about whether to own, lease, or rent a vehicle, the process can be overwhelming, especially when you're not sure of the differences between each. This infographic provides a quick summary of the differences to help guide you throughout the decision-making process.

I’m located in New York, covering New Jersey, New York City, and Delaware. I’ve been doing this for almost 37 years, so that’s pretty much my entire career. When I first started, in 1980, I was with Hertz Car Leasing in Manhattan. Back then, the business in general was very transactional—customers essentially leased vehicles and made their monthly payments, and that was pretty much the process. Following this, I moved to a company called Leasing Associates, and was there until 1993. Again, the experience I had here was that the business was very transactional, and it was mostly based on relationships. When the company closed its New York office, it was then that I moved to General Electric.

I’ve been in the fleet management business since 1994. My territory includes all the New England states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. I started out in auto rentals in 1992 and then transitioned into automotive fleet leasing in 1994. Since that time, we’ve seen many changes in the fleet industry. Most notable was the introduction of technology and how it has evolved over the years. For instance, when I started out as an Account Manager, we had very little technology in place and business was done via land lines and fax. There were no such things as laptop computers, cell phones, the internet, or GPS! In regards to driver safety, in some ways, this was a good thing because today, easily accessing technology is one of the areas that challenges our customers.

Last week, Union Leasing attended the annual Avenues to Independence Golf Outing, which took place in Chicago, Illinois. Avenues is a non-profit organization that provides homes, jobs, and community living programs to adults in the Chicago area with physical, intellectual, and other developmental disabilities. Their goal is to provide work and living opportunities to those with disabilities, enabling them to be as independent as possible. It was a great event held by wonderful people – we met with a few customers and vendors, and got to network a little while enjoying the day out golfing!

We recently attended the HFMA Annual Conference, which took place from June 24 –27 at the Venetian-Palazzo Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas. Every year, the conference brings together executives from the healthcare sector, with the aim to lead and inspire their businesses – helping them solve complex issues by interacting with peers and industry leaders, and providing them with the right tools to influence change and address different challenges. This year’s conference was no different. The event provided some great networking and collaboration opportunities to those in attendance, while offering some key industry updates and insights on upcoming trends.